]]>As we all know, many applications and websites can run in Dark Mode… Great for media content such as photography and videos. Dark Mode, yeah it makes a ton of sense. Google’s Chrome browser is now capable of displaying YouTube in this “Dark Mode.” I just switched the setting on and to tell you the truth I am loving it.

]]>I just thought I would do a quick write-up on how to add a Full Screen Background Hero Image to your Website. The way described here will completely cover the browser window and at the same time be static so that it does not slide up when the page is scrolled. This is done purely in CSS. I would guess that a large majority of you are also running your site using WordPress. Using CSS you may also have a different full screen background hero image for separate posts or pages! Most people use full screen hero images only on the front page of their WordPress website though and that can also be done by targeting your homepage (or any page) in the CSS. Being able to specify which page has a full screen background image that covers the whole browser window is popular these days. The code works in the major modern browsers that we need it to.

Remember to optimize the background image so that it does not take too long to load.
A great site to do so can be found at – https://compressor.io

]]>This is a notice to all web designers. There is a scam going around!
They contact you via email or even text. I have been hit with the scam twice now.

It starts out as a simple inquiry for web design services. Here is an example of first contact:

Hello how are you doing today, My name is Michael Morris i will like to know if you do web design kindly get back to me asap so that i can forward you the job details. Thank you

Seems legit right?! Don’t fall for it.

After a quick response from me, I then get a message back that reads:

My wife has small scale business which i want to turn into large scale business now it located in TN and the company is based on importing and exporting of Agriculture products such as Kola Nut, Gacillia Nut and Cocoa so i need a best of the best layout design for it. Can you handle that for me ?. so i need you to check out this site but i need something more perfect than this if its possible .http://www.agroamerica.com…. the site would only be informational, so i need you to give me an estimate based on the site i gave you to check out, the estimate should include hosting and i want the same page as the site i gave you to check out and i have a private project consultant, he has the text content and the logos for the site.

Note:

She want the same number of pages with the example site i gave you to check excluding videos and blogs.

The private project consultant is also working on how to provide the images, logos and content for the site.

Her budget is $4000 to $8000

Really this is just a warning for my fellow web designers. From my research it seems to be a very rampant and common scam.

If you get this email, please do not even bother responding.

The way the scam is said to work is that they allow the whole project to follow through. When it is time for payment, they use a stolen card and then pay you plus what they want paid to their “project consultant.” They then ask if you could just go ahead and pay the project consultant for them to make things easier or what-not. That is how they stay disconnected from the stolen card and still receive payment. The worst part of the whole thing is that the person being scammed is actually doing the work through to the end of the actual project! So, they are not just stealing money but are also stealing your time and sweat.

]]>Tools of the trade. If you call rocketing into space a trade?! NASA has been offering free software tools for a while now. They started with their 2014 catalog and have just released the 2017-2018 catalog. Since 2014, they have shared thousands of tools!

Let me start by saying that I don’t play Minecraft myself. I do have to administer it on my wife’s phone and daughter’s iPad! I have seen some great landscapes and models built by them both. But… this is on another level.

Ryan Zull has painstakingly created an amazing model of a large swath of Chicago out of blocks… yes, blocks in a 1:2 scale. It has been four years in the making and he has now just released it for the world to behold. I have read that he used Google Maps to measure and create the Chicago Minecraft model.